Anyone else cringe at fish when at lfs?

[RMS18]

Is it just me or is there anyone else that cringes and feels sad when they see sick, dying or unhealthy fish at the lfs?

I was just there picking up some food, as always I like to look at the fish and corals. I passed by the clownfish tanks and I could not find one healthy looking baby clown out of about 30. They are all O.R.A clowns, no color to them, they looked sunken and frantic. I felt so bad, hardly any of them had their fins up. Then I see a 4 inch wrasse (not sure of the type of wrasse) and it's on the bottom of the tank breathing fast, curled up and on it's way out. I understand it's a business but here we are taking most of these beautiful creatures from the best habitats possible and we play the odds with them. If I was the lfs that flasher would be out in a qt tank trying my best to save it, not let him just die. The poor clowns were getting blasted with a water head that was to strong for them. I felt so bad, it really annoyed me.

 

[joshkirkland83]

I hate to say it but you are supporting it by buying ANYTHING from them.

 

[JFrar]

I know the feeling... something else that bothers me and this mainly happened at an old LFS i went to was the associates recommending fish species that were NOT suitable for the buyer, but it was a buck for the company..... at least with corals i think in the future of our hobby we will be mostly self sustained by fragging...fish on the other hand not so much(at least right now)

 

[RMS18]

I hate to say it but you are supporting it by buying ANYTHING from them.

I know... I don't buy my livestock from this store but they are the only ones that sell the frozen food. My good lfs only sells fish and corals no foods or supplies. Which is why his fish are in top notch health.

 

[Duke4Life]

Been tempted myself a few times but have always passed. I wish some places wouldn't carry, only if they knew about the other sw only stores in the area.

 

[joshkirkland83]

I know... I don't buy my livestock from this store but they are the only ones that sell the frozen food. My good lfs only sells fish and corals no foods or supplies. Which is why his fish are in top notch health.

I boycott the biggest LFS in my city AFTER i told the owner off about the way he kept his livestock. I order EVERYTHING online. You can get anything you want from our sponsors here at R2R.

 

[steve&mari]

We're lucky our lfs is awesome and you won't see fish in them conditions. He qts everything before hitting the sales floor. It's a cost most lfs don't have to spend sadly. When we travel to places to see a certain store to find fish like that you've described it's sad and frustration sets in quickly. Sadly it's cheaper to toss the fish then cost of larger space and setups for qt of mass numbers of fish arriving continuously. The back room at our lfs for breeding and qt is way larger then the very large retail area. This adds hugely to the overhead of the store figure commercial rent the added cost of running multiple large qt systems medication n electricity maintenance costs ect is more then most lfs can cover and stay open.

 

[joshkirkland83]

We're lucky our lfs is awesome and you won't see fish in them conditions. He qts everything before hitting the sales floor. It's a cost most lfs don't have to spend sadly. When we travel to places to see a certain store to find fish like that you've described it's sad and frustration sets in quickly. Sadly it's cheaper to toss the fish then cost of larger space and setups for qt of mass numbers of fish arriving continuously. The back room at our lfs for breeding and qt is way larger then the very large retail area. This adds hugely to the overhead of the store figure commercial rent the added cost of running multiple large qt systems medication n electricity maintenance costs ect is more then most lfs can cover and stay open.

Yeah, i agree. But by doing that you have loyal lifetime customers like us. Ppl who have large and multiple tanks that purchase corals, food, and livestock on a weekly basis.(at least i do) Instead of making ONE sale to a nemo customer.

 

[steve&mari]

Yeah, i agree. But by doing that you have loyal lifetime customers like us. Ppl who have large and multiple tanks that purchase corals, food, and livestock on a weekly basis.(at least i do) Instead of making ONE sale to a nemo customer.

I totally agree and am lucky Jeff has built his business slowly over years of making a reputation of quality over flashy store fronts n trying to be a pet store he focused on fish n corals and now has a huge store fronts taking up 3/4 of the strip mall. He also runs a dog and cat store but it's separate from the fish store and has multiple of them but fish are all their own business and single location to provide the best livestock he possibly can.

 

[joshkirkland83]

I totally agree and am lucky Jeff has built his business slowly over years of making a reputation of quality over flashy store fronts n trying to be a pet store he focused on fish n corals and now has a huge store fronts taking up 3/4 of the strip mall. He also runs a dog and cat store but it's separate from the fish store and has multiple of them but fish are all their own business and single location to provide the best livestock he possibly can.

Awesome. Yeah, the nemo customers arent going to buy a $300 orange hammer or a $600 master scoly, it us who will. We are the ones they should make dang sure are happy. If i dont buy online i go to joe knows reef and his quality is impeccable. I just cant go as often as i want being its two hours away. [emoji20]

 

[Pfisherman]

Im somewhat lucky in living an hour or more from several quality fish stores. I consider that luck because they are all equally far so im not married to just one store based on location.

 

[Pfisherman]

Also im only 20 minutes away from rods foods HQ, used to be roods reef.

 

[Chrisfish]

Wow, I can't believe this came up today, I was in one of our lfs buying something for my dwarf puffers (freshwater) holding myself back on buying anything for my nano reef but I always look and they had a Mandarin that looked horrible, I felt so bad. I WILL NOT GO BACK THERE!! I'm glad this discussion came up.

 

[melypr1985]

My LFS doesn't QT anything, but they now have a hospital tank after I raised hell about all the sick fish. I actually made them test the copper in the system to see if it was a therapeutic levels and test the SG to see if it actually was at Hypo. Neither were! After much arguing and discussion (this guy is one of my good friends so i feel obliged to yell at him when he's being stupid) I went away very unhappy and threatening very LOUDLY that wont buy fish from that system.... Ever. Well, as ticked off as he was, I went in a week later to see a hospital tank set up with 4 of the worst fish in there looking better! I'm not saying that will happen for everybody, but really.... Nothing will change without somebody saying something.

By the way... I'm not advocating for anybody to go and yell at their LFS. again... my friend is the assnt manger and I'm aloud to yell at him. lol

 

[jtmojo]

I used to work at a LFS that had sick fish, a frag tank with no heater in it, and general poor husbandry. Thought I could help them out, make their fish and coral look nice. I was mistaken the owner was hard set in his practices and refused most of my suggestions; needless to say I quit. But it wasn't only the owner, most of the employees lacked the motivation to keep things healthy and honestly had no idea what they were doing or talking about, even the ones that have been working there for years.

 

[Dtackett]

do you give them advice? tell them what theyre doing wrong? give them the correct information and educate them on how to take care of the fish?

 

[Sabellafella]

I think basically any lfs i walk into in ny my girlfriend is mortified, it really is upsetting the massive volume of fish that come in and out of these stores, theres always that one or 5 that are either sick or dont make it nd the owners are so used to just throwing them out it really really is upsetting

 

[jtmojo]

do you give them advice? tell them what theyre doing wrong? give them the correct information and educate them on how to take care of the fish?

Oh yeah, it really came down to the way the owner chose to treat their fish when they develop diseases. I was able to get heaters in tanks that didn't have them and I did water changes on tanks that clearly haven't been cleaned in months if not years; but, the owner insisted on being the only one to treat the fish. I've seen $700 worth of discus die due to over treatment and for saltwater fish he refused to use copper to treat ich, he insisted herbal medicine was less stressful and more efficient. He dumped gallons of that stuff in the tanks and the fish would either get sold before they developed symptoms, die, or spread the disease to the new fish he brought in. People may cringe walking into LFS like these, but working there was awful.

 

[Dtackett]

wasn't really referring to you. ive seen how owners can make it hell for the workers that actually know what theyre doing. I started to work for a local lfs but during my first day I started saying what we needed to get the tanks and fish right and got told no. told them that was a second job for me and I didn't need it and I wasn't going to sell sick fish and to either allow me to treat their stock so they make more money or they can write it off as a loss and ill leave and not come back. needless to say I don't work there anymore lol

 

[Luka]

do you give them advice? tell them what theyre doing wrong? give them the correct information and educate them on how to take care of the fish?

Agreed dying fish is not something we like to see.